BACKTRACKING # 35 : JULEE CRUISE

Part of an irregular series of bite-sized posts about 7″ singles I own – shameless nostalgia from the days of vinyl. (Search ‘Backtracking’ to collect the set!)

JULEE CRUISE – Falling b/w The Theme From Twin Peaks (Warner, 1989)

No prizes for guessing that I bought this through an addiction to David Lynch’s cult TV drama Twin Peaks.

The title track is a dreamy ballad sung over the memorable theme tune. She sings airily of the risks of falling in love (“Don’t let yourself be hurt this time”) and performs it as though in slow motion to add to the lost in time feel.

Rather than showing pictures of Julee Cruise , the front and back show images from this show of ill-fated homecoming queen Laura Palmer after and before death.

The genius of Lynch is that he always knows exactly the look and atmosphere he wants. Cruise is so right because she looks so spaced out and her voice exudes an eerie stillness perfectly in tune with the surreal ‘there’s something in the woods’ quality of the drama. She was discovered by composer Angelo Badalamenti and this song is very similar in feel to her sublime performance of Mysteries of Love featured in thr Blue Velvet movie (and later covered brilliantly by Antony).

Sound and vision are so perfectly in synchrony that it is impossible to hear either song without picturing the nightmarish images from Lynch’s world.